NEW TESTAMENT PERFECTION

Posted on by BETH

No man can be perfect in the world’s definition of perfection.  However, God’s ‘perfection’ and the world’s ‘perfection’ are not the same ‘perfection.’  The world tends to define the word ‘perfect’ as ‘never making a mistake.’  Some insist that if a man were perfect like Christ he could never have sinned at any time during his lifetime.  To live an entire lifetime without sinning even once is impossible, for: “For all hav sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).  This is not the Lord’s definition of perfection.

Someone may ask why there is such a determination to teach perfection.  The obvious answer is because it is part of the whole counsel of God.  Who would not want to teach everything the Lord teachers.  Second, it is a command of God (Matt. 5:48; Heb. 6:1).  Third, Paul’s aim was to ”. . . present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28). Fourth, this word incorporates descriptions of the pathway of spiritual growth (Eph. 4:12,13, James 1:2-4).  Before we consider the pathway, we first need to have a more complete picture of the goal itself.

Jesus gives his own definition of perfection.  “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40)  This is a general description which applies to all masters.  Perfection for any disciple is being “as his master” (Luke 6:40). John the Baptist and the Pharisees made disciples (Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33).  When John the Baptist’s disciples were finished, they were like John, and the Pharisees’ disciples were like the Pharisees. “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord” (Matt. 10:24,25).  Jesus’ disciples would naturally be like Jesus when they were completed.  In line with this purpose he said “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5) and “. . . arm yourselves likewise with the same mind . . .” (Pet. 4:1, 2).  If we obey the command to have the mind of Christ, we will be that much like Christ.

Jesus called for disciples to follow him in order to become like him.  Before they could be like him they had to know him.  Jesus called for men to know him.  He said “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me” (Matt. 11:28-30).  The disciple can not become like Christ unless he first knows what he is.  Jesus described what they should learn about him: “. . .for I am meek and lowly in heart.”  If his disciples follow him, they also will become meek and lowly in heart, like their master.  “And Jesus increased in wisdom. . .” (Luke 2:52).  Jesus disciples will also seek to grow in wisdom as their master did.  Jesus said: “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:19).  He left his disciples an example so they would sanctify themselves.  “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Jesus learned to obey by suffering.  His disciples will also follow his example and learn obedience by being willing to suffer what Jesus suffered.  What did Jesus suffer in order to learn obedience?   “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Pet. 2:18-21).  Jesus did not suffer so that we would not have to suffer.  He left “us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”  The scriptures inform us that Jesus was not born ‘perfect’ but was “made perfect” (Heb. 5:9). “For it became him, for whom are all things . . . to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10; 5:9).  Jesus is the captain of our salvation.  He was ‘made perfect’ by the things which he suffered.  He “suffered being tempted” (Heb. 2:18). “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).  Jesus’ faithful disciples will grow to be perfected by following in his steps.

THE FINISH LINE

Posted on by BETH

Paul points to perfection as the mark toward which he is running (Phil. 3:12).  Some are running for heaven or the crown of life.  If we run directly for the crown on the judge’s stand, we will surely be disqualified.  He says that those who run must run according to the rules or they will not get the crown (2 Tim. 2:5).  We can not run directly ‘to’ the crown – eternal life.  The prize is not the finish line. Paul said he was running “toward the mark for the prize.”  When he crossed the finish line, only at that time did he win the crown.  He did not earn it, nor was it free.  He had to run hard to win it.  When Paul was writing to the Corinthians about 54 AD, he had not ‘apprehended’ the crown (1 Cor. 9:24-26).  Even about nine or ten years later, in 62 AD, he wrote to the Philippians stating:

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before (Phil 3:12,13)

Paul had not apprehended the crown six years before he died.  He had been apprehended so that he could apprehend the crown, but he had not won it at that time.  He was still running hard.  He was forgetting everything behind and pressing toward the mark for the prize, which is the crown (Phil. 3:14).

Paul used an interesting expression for what he was running toward.  First, he says he had not attained the resurrection of the dead (Phil. 3:12,13).  We understand that “the resurrection of the dead” and “the crown of life” go hand in hand.  He was aiming to ‘attain’ to the resurrection of the dead.  At the same time that he is running in order to attain the resurrection of the dead, he states that he is not yet perfect.  This time he uses the verb form of the word complete (teleios).

“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:12).

He said that he had not been perfected, but was obviously running in that direction.  This testifies that Paul is not a hypocrite!   He was seeking to present every man perfect (teleios) but he was seeking for the same thing himself (Col. 1:28).  We note what it takes to present every man perfect.  He says that it takes preaching and warning each one in ‘all’ wisdom (Col. 1:28).  This is not a simple process.  God himself was working mightily in Paul to accomplish that task in all of his children.  Should we also not be aiming to present every man perfect in Christ like Paul and God (Col. 1:29)?

The word ‘wisdom’ is, at times, not understood in it’s immediate context in James 1:5.  Many talk about receiving wisdom from God, but what is the context?  What wisdom does our Lord offer us?  The context is the subject he gives in the three verses before.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect andentice, wanting nothing  (James 1:2-4).

The Lord has a pathway for growing to be ‘perfect and entire, wanting nothing.’  We need wisdom to accomplish the Lord’s eternal purpose.  This is not wisdom for our own purposes and goals – but God’s.  Paul mentioned the same goal many times (2 Cor. 13:9, Gal. 3:3, Col. 4:12, etc.).  Peter was also aiming for the same mark for the Christians (1 Pet. 5:10): as was Luke (Luke 6:40), John (1 John 4:17,18), James (James 1:2-4), and the Hebrew writer (Heb. 2:10, 6:1-3).  If we are faithful and are preaching the whole truth, the whole counsel of God, we will be free of the blood of all men (Acts 20:26).  If we preach the whole truth, we will surely have the same purpose and goal in mind that Paul had.

THE MARK, PURPOSE, AIM, GOAL OF THE RACE

Posted on by BETH

The great commission leads us to the mark God has set out for us – if we obey it.  The method that short-circuits the great commission saying “Go, teach (first principles), baptize, and then simply teach (to teach them to teach the first principles to others)” totally misses the mark.  Teaching them to teach the first principles to others is certainly a part of the command, but it is only one part of the command.  Jesus said “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. . .” (Matt. 28:20). If we teach ‘all things,’ we will teach the mark which God sets before each child of his.  What is the mark to which we are called to run?  Unless we know the mark (Phil. 3:14), how can we know the pathway that leads to the mark?  Philip was very wise when he asked this of Christ: “We know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:4, 5).  He did not know the mark nor did he know the pathway to reach that mark and knew it.  Jesus said “. . .no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).    He was speaking of going to be with his Father in heaven.  The way to go to the Father is to follow in the steps of Christ and reach the mark which he reached. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).  Jesus knew the mark and knew the way to get to the mark.  He is the author and finisher of our race.  He made it, and he ran it ahead of us (Heb. 12:1-3).  He did not run the race so we do not have to run it.  He ran it so that we would have an example to follow as we run (1 Pet. 2:21).  We need to follow him and run to the mark to which he ran.

The Lord in working all things together for good for his purpose (goal, mark).  What is this purpose?  Notice the two qualifications required before he will work all things together for good for us.  Those who qualify, 1) love him, and 2) are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).  He calls men so they will fulfill his purpose.  He tells us clearly in the next verse what he calls men to be (Rom. 8:29).  He calls men to “be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:30).    This is the same purpose, aim, goal of a disciple. “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord” (Matt. 10:25).  When the disciple is perfect, he is like his master (Luke 6:40).  We can see that the word ‘perfect’ in these verses is not used as the world commonly uses it today.  We need to explore this scriptural word ‘perfection’ as it is used in the scriptures.  What is New Testament perfection?

V. THE GREAT COMMISSION: Ultimate Purpose–Teaching All Things

Posted on by BETH

The last command of the great commission is as important as the first two commands: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you . . .” (Matt. 28:20).  No one is justified in obeying only most of the commands of God.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.  For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10, 11).

Though some may say we can not obey all the commands of God, the Lord states that his commands are not grievous (1 John 5:3).  The Greek word translated ‘grievous’ in this scripture is the word ‘weighty.’  His commands are not weighty – not too much for us to carry.  Jesus said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matt. 11:30).  He has a yoke and a burden for each of his children, but they are not more than we can carry or pull.  He commands us to love him with all of our heart, soul and mind (Matt. 22:36).  How could our love not include every command?  He tells us that to love him is to obey his commands (John 14:21, 23, 1 John 5:3).   We should be diligent to find, observe (obey) and teach his disciples to ‘observe all things whatsoever’ he has commanded.

He further encourages us to obey all of his commandments by promising that: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).  He informs us that:  “(. . . the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).  He testifies that the shield of faith will make us “. . .  able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph. 6:16).  If his commandments are light and easy, and if we are able to bear all temptations (or escape), bring every thought to obedience to Christ and if we are able to quench every dart Satan throws at us – when would we need to disobey any command?  We note that this is not our power, but “mighty through God” and his weapons so that we can even take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:4, 5).  This power is not gained suddenly.  When he is first born into the Lord’s family, a Christian does not have all faith nor does he even know all the weapons of God.  He is a baby and must grow.  But these promises encourage us to try to grow, knowing that if we follow our Lord’s direction our Lord can make us free from being slaves to sin! (John 8:32-35)  We need to constantly keep in mind that the power is not in the individual child of God, but in God, who “. . . is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worth in us” (Eph. 3:20).  We naturally ask, what is our part in fighting sin?  The pathway which our Father has set before us is the pathway to overcome sin.  He shows us this pathway which we will consider later in this study.

Eight Baptisms in Scripture

Posted on by BETH

In the scriptures there are at least eight baptisms in the history of Israel and the church with eight very different purposes.  There was the ordinary washing of animal sacrifices according to the Old Testament law (Heb. 9:10).  There was the baptism in the cloud and sea into Moses (1 Cor. 10:1, 2) and  ordinary washing of hands (Baptizo is translated washing in the English) (Luke 11:38).  John the Baptist taught water baptism for the remission of sins. Jesus took part in a special baptism (Mark 10:38).  The apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit after the cross (Matt. 3:11, Acts 1:5).  There was a baptism in fire (Matt. 3:11), and the water baptism Jesus commanded after the cross (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38).  The Pharisees added different doctrines of baptisms according to their traditions (Mark 7:4-8).

New Testament baptism is described as a “likeness” of Christ’s burial (Rom. 6:3-6).  Notice in these verses how that baptism is involved with Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection.  Those who are buried with Christ, must first be “crucified with him” (Rom. 6:6).  After the old man is dead, then is he ready to be “buried with him by baptism” (Rom. 6:3,4).  We are crucified and buried with him so “. . . that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).   Our  “. . . old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed” (Rom. 6:6).  Only after the old man has been crucified and buried, are we in a position to “put on the new man which is renewed in the image of” Christ (Col. 3:10).  Thus baptism is the second step of the disciple uniting with Christ in the likeness of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

The scriptures further tell us what else baptism does.  When we “have obeyed that form of doctrine” we are “then made free from sin” (Rom. 6:17,18).  This is precisely what happened to the apostle Paul when he was told to “arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins” (Acts 22:16).  The Jews on Pentecost were also obedient to the Lord’s command to “be baptized for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38).  The promise to all men is: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:15,16).  He further describes baptism in relation to Noah, who obeyed God and was thus saved by water when it carried him and his boat, while all the others drowned.  “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us” (1 Pet. 3:20, 21).  This is the same obedience by which “we are all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13), “which is his church” (Eph. 1:22,23).

After the cross only one baptism is valid (Eph. 4:4-6).  Not even John the Baptist’s baptism was valid after the cross (Acts 19:1-5).  If, after the cross, the Lord rejected even the baptism which he commanded for John the Baptist, he will surely reject any baptism which man adds.  Preaching another baptism is included in preaching another gospel and is cursed by God (Gal. 1:6-9).  We must be very careful to receive and teach only the baptism of Christ.  Why be cursed for following the wrong teaching?  We must not add to it nor diminish anything from it.

We will return to our study concerning baptism after we see what our Lord teaches concerning the third command in the great commission.